DOWNEY - The Mary R. Stauffer Foundation this week awarded more than $126,000 to Downey teachers to fund 37 projects, ranging from art lessons at elementary schools to television production facilities at middle- and high schools.The high schools will receive $82,113, middle schools $18,262 and elementary schools $26,243. This marks the eighth time that the foundation has awarded teacher grants in the last 20 years. "Dr. Stauffer's grants are used to enrich the learning environment for DUSD students, purchasing resources for schools and/or facilitating the development of innovative and creative projects," officials with the Downey Unified School District said. The foundation's donation will fund the following projects: Sound amplification for five third-grade classrooms at Alameda Elementary ($7,630) Art lessons at Carpenter Elementary ($905) Walking Club at Carpenter ($1,058) Student response systems at Gallatin Elementary ($1,659) Healthy/safe recess at Lewis Elementary ($2,000) Sound amplification for five third-grade classrooms at Price Elementary ($7,286) Walk Through California assembly at Price ($1,782) Running Club at Price ($300) Circle of Friends at Rio Hondo Elementary ($370) Student response systems at Unsworth Elementary ($1,400) Text Talk at Ward Elementary ($1,853) Classroom math center at East Middle School ($500) Civil War band at Griffiths Middle School ($1,100) Sewing Club at Griffiths ($1,947) Publishing student books at Sussman Middle School ($215) Cafeteria sound system at West Middle School ($5,000) West TV production studio at West ($8,500) After-school club for animation and story plots at West ($1,000) Three iPads at Columbus High ($2,090) Theater curtains at Downey High ($1,824) Viking video production at Downey ($2,500) Scholastic art at Downey ($376) Laptop upgrades at Downey ($2,948) Advanced photo studio at Downey ($2,000) Building the Ceramics program at Downey ($3,000) 25 dictionaries at Downey ($875) 37 computers for Project Lead the Way lab at Downey ($27,000) Graphing calculators at Warren High ($9,000) 4 iMacs for digital photography at Warren ($8,600) Hands-on physics at Warren ($7,014) Gymnasium audio/visual system at Warren ($10,000) Musical hand chime at Warren ($4,486) Landscape project at Warren ($400) Geoboards to teach slope at district offices ($143).

********** Published: November 15, 2012 - Volume 11 - Issue 31